| No. 41 | |||||||||||
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| Position: | Halfback | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Born: | October 1, 1931 Greenwood, Wisconsin, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Died: | July 28, 2023 (aged 91) | ||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||
| Weight: | 195 lb (88 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school: | Greenwood (WI) | ||||||||||
| College: | Wisconsin | ||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1953 / round: 14 / pick: 161 | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||
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Harland Irvin Carl (October 1, 1931 – July 28, 2023) was an American football player and coach. As a halfback in the National Football League (NFL), he helped the Chicago Bears reach the 1956 NFL Championship Game before a knee injury ended his career.
Carl grew up in Greenwood, Wis., and both played and coached football for the Wisconsin Badgers. As a Badgers player, Carl ran for more than 100 yards in a game four times and is one of only 11 players in program history to top 100 yards in a game as a true freshman.[1]
Carl shared a backfield with Heisman Trophy winner Alan Ameche and led Wisconsin to the program's first bowl game appearance: the 1953 Rose Bowl.[2] While the Badgers lost that game 7–0 to the USC Trojans, Carl was part of Wisconsin's best chance to score. According to a news report, in the waning minutes of the game, Wisconsin quarterback Jim Haluska targeted Carl in the end zone: "Carl juggled the perfectly thrown pass from Haluska, and his momentum carried him out of bounds before he was able to secure it."[3]
Carl was selected in the 14th round of the 1953 NFL draft and served two years in the Army before joining the Bears.[4] He played nine games for the Bears, scoring his lone touchdown against San Francisco in a 38–21 win.[5] Carl was the last Bears player to wear No. 41 before Brian Piccolo, after which the team retired the number.[6]
After his playing career, he joined the Neenah High School football coaching staff from 1958 through 1966, the last four years as head coach, where he accumulated four straight Mid-Eastern Conference titles with an overall 27-3-2 record.[7] Carl returned to the Wisconsin Badgers as an assistant coach under Milt Bruhn in 1966 and under John Coatta from 1967 to 1969.[8]
Carl later worked for fellow retired NFL player Bob Skoronski at Valley School Supply in Appleton, Wis., as well as at Wisconsin Athletic Products, where he sold a basketball rack called the "Rol-O-Bin" used in gyms across the country.[9]